Autumn ’15 Release

At D2L, we always look forward to sharing the latest updates to the Brightspace platform. It’s our chance to help educators discover new and exciting ways to create an experience that will be as engaging as possible for learners. This release makes Brightspace more mobile than ever—and with our evolved analytics suite, instructors will have the insights they need to give learners the right guidance in real time.

You can read more about the Autumn ‘15 Release below for a glimpse at why Brightspace was ranked the #1 LMS for next-generation online teaching and learning by Ovum’s latest edtech report. Their technology assessment awarded Brightspace a perfect score in three categories—including innovation.

More insights.

We’re bringing instructors the right data, at the right time, in the right place. The Brightspace Insights™ analytics suite collects the data generated by learner activities from across the education technology ecosystem to create a single source of learning data to help build reporting for organizational and instructor needs. With embedded data visualizations directly in an instructor’s workflow, they have the insights they need to take action right at the moment their guidance is needed.

Now, institutions can take a closer look at the behavior patterns that are meaningful to learner success. With the addition of total logins and tool access reporting, they can see which tools are being used and which activities are happening across the entire organization. Instructors can even see how much their students are engaging with their courses by using the course access report.

Through the work we’ve been doing with IMS as part of the Caliper Analytics™ working group and partners like Kaltura, we will be able to bring outside learning activities directly into the Brightspace platform through Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®). Institutions will be able to view learner activity from Kaltura within Brightspace, helping them build towards overall student engagement reporting. Instructors will be able to see how many learners have launched Kaltura, for example, and identify specific pieces of content that have been viewed—providing a rich understanding of what makes learners successful.

Brightspace Analytics Suite Video

Brightspace Insights™ Video

Data is in the DNA of Brightspace. For a long time, we’ve believed in evidence-based decision-making and the power of analytics to help. We’re excited to announce the Learning Analytics Blueprint, a service that helps institutions navigate the opportunity that learning analytics presents. Contact us for more information about how our team of experts in change management, data governance, and data sciences can help you start your own journey with analytics and data.

More mobile.

Staying connected while you’re on the go is more important than ever. Today’s instructors and learners need the ability to be as productive as possible from their mobile devices. We’ve added new features to Brightspace Pulse so that learners can stay informed with notifications when they receive new content. We’re thrilled to share that we’ve certified our Brightspace Pulse mobile app to send Caliper events—making us one of the leaders on Caliper analytics with the ability to both send and receive Caliper data. We’ve also continued to improve the experience on Brightspace Binder™ for iPad so that learners can study more effectively with improved navigation in their documents. Brightspace ePortfolio and Brightspace Assignment Grader are now available across the globe—and as of November 5, you will also be able to download Brightspace Assignment Grader for Android™ tablets!

More rewards.

With Brightspace, you can increase learner engagement by recognizing their achievements. Using the Awards tool in Brightspace Learning Environment, you can set up release conditions so that Badges or Certificates are awarded as soon as learners earn them. You can even create custom Badges and Certificates using your own images to create unique and meaningful awards. And learners will be able to share their awards on their profile or through social media.

Introducing: Our Competency-Based Education Solution

The new Brightspace Competency-Based Education (CBE) solution incorporates Brightspace Learning Environment, strategic consulting services, domain expertise, and a CBE community. Today, there are more than 30 million adult nontraditional learners in the US who have started a postsecondary education but haven’t completed it. Our latest solution allows higher education institutions to launch CBE today, making a degree more accessible and attainable for nontraditional students and underserved populations. We’re offering various levels of CBE consulting services that you can choose from to help you create online courses specifically for CBE. From getting started to an on-site strategic planning service, we can help you incorporate a CBE program into your curriculum—a partner at every step.

Take courses to a new level.

We want to make sure that you get the most out of your Brightspace investment. That’s why we offer professional services that are specifically designed to help you empower faculty and learners. We can help you take the courses that you already have and make them more engaging and accessible.

Brightspace Story Builder will help you to create engaging stories that communicate key learning concepts in an exciting way.

Improvements to Brightspace App Finder

App listings now have more information than ever before, including notes about accessibility compliance, language availability, and privacy compliance. The App Finder that is integrated with Brightspace Learning Environment also has a customizable notes section that your Brightspace Admin can update with instructions. Customized document locations can also be added and you can change the default view for your instructors to “My Apps” so that the user interface is customized for them.

Features from the Product Ideas Exchange

The feedback we get from our Product Ideas Exchange in the Brightspace Community is incredible. We’ve been listening: here are some of the latest features that we’ve developed based on your suggestions.

Here are just a few of the highlights of features in the Spring Release.

Release Notes

This page contains trademarks of the IMS Global Learning Consortium including the IMS Logos, Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®), Accessible Portable Item Protocol® (APIP®), and Caliper Analytics™. For more information on the IMS trademark usage policy see trademark policy page
iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.